The 200-student Fremont Elementary is slated to gain nine new classrooms if the bond issue is approved by voters. / Nathan Papes

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Ballot language

Proposition Teachers for Kids

Shall the Board of Education of The School District of Springfield R-12, Springfield, Missouri, be authorized to increase the operating tax levy ceiling of the District by $0.10 per $100 of assessed valuation for tax year 2013 and by an additional $0.10 per $100 of assessed valuation for tax year 2014 for the purpose of paying operating costs of the District, including costs of maintaining class size, and staff and teacher salaries? If this proposition is approved, the operating levy of the District is estimated to be $3.2899 per $100 of assessed valuation in tax year 2013, and $3.3899 per one hundred dollars of assessed valuation in tax year 2014. Proposition Classrooms for Kids

Shall The School District of Springfield R-12, Springfield, Missouri, issue its general obligation bonds in the amount of $71,650,000 for the purpose of (1) constructing new buildings and purchasing land, (2) improving, repairing, renovating and acquiring buildings, including technology improvements, and (3) furnishing and equipping school buildings? If this proposition is approved, the District’s debt service tax levy is estimated to remain unchanged at the current levy of $0.51 per one hundred dollars of assessed valuation.

Coming next week

Examine the Springfield school district’s proposed 20-cent operating tax levy increase, phased in over two years. If approved, it would generate about $6.4 million annually to hire teachers and maintain class sizes.

The proposal

$19.25 million Renovate common spaces, mechanical system at Kickapoo High $17.8 million New southwest elementary school $16 million Upgrade network, replace computers $13.5 million Expand Fremont Elementary $4 million Renovate cafeteria, library at Glendale High $1.1 million Add onto Hickory Hills Elementary

• Renovate: Improve critical common spaces, such as the cafeterias, at Kickapoo and Glendale high schools.

• Upgrade: Increase network bandwidth and replace aging computers.

Superintendent Norm Ridder said an enrollment surge in the nearly 25,000-student district has created a squeeze, particularly at the elementary level. A recent demographic study shows the growth wasn’t a fluke and that enrollment is expected to increase by at least 115 students a year for the next decade.

“Our message is growth,” Ridder said. “To be able to respond to the growth, we need facilities and personnel.”

That led the school board to unanimously agree to place two funding proposals, the bond issue and a 20-cent operating tax levy increase, on the ballot.

The bond would create and renovate space. The levy would fill that new space with teachers.

“That’s why we put them on (the ballot) together. One needs the other. We need both. We can’t function with just one,” said board president Tom Prater. “The danger is people don’t understand how interrelated they are and say, ‘Well, I’ll just vote for one of the issues instead of both.”

Each one would affect taxpayers differently.

The bond is touted as a “no tax increase” and will not increase how much property owners pay. But, if approved, it would add to the district’s overall indebtedness and extend — by four — the number of years the current 51-cent debt service tax would stand. Like most bonds, it would take about 20 years to pay off.

The 20-cent operating tax levy, phased in over two years, would increase the annual property tax bill on a $100,000 house by $38.

Springfield voters approved four school bond issues — one every three years — between 2000 and 2009. The four totaled just over $200 million.

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Among other things, those bond issues provided air conditioning to all of the traditional school buildings that had been without it. They paid for a major renovation and expansion of Central High and Parkview High, built Harrison Elementary and funded renovations and expansions to numerous schools across the district.

District officials, busy with the conclusion of a lengthy state audit, talked about the need for additional funding last year but didn’t pursue it. As a result of the audit and the district’s internal review, the district ramped up the controls it uses to manage bond funding and projects.

Prater said officials were also worried the economy, which was showing signs of recovery, had not yet improved enough to approach taxpayers with a funding request. Given the enrollment surge, they decided now was the time.

Top district officials have talked for more than a year about the need for a comprehensive facilities review and long-range plan. The district plans to contract with an outside firm to start that this year.

So why not wait until that plan is done?

Prater said an internal working team completed a short-term facilities assessment late last year to identify immediate needs, mostly driven by crowding in key spots and a need to update technology.

He predicts the long-range plan will require the district to take a hard look at how to address issues at middle schools as well as schools and gyms approaching or past their 100th birthday.

“We decided to go ahead and do a no-tax-increase bond now and then 4-5 years down the road, we’ll be ready with a long-range plan,” he said. “...We’re going to have to address our long-term needs, but those are more expensive and not as time critical.”

Prater said he’s hopeful the public will support the proposal.

“If the bond doesn’t pass then we’ve got to pack more kids into less space, which is not ideal at all,” he said. “We already have a lot of schools where groups meet in the hall or they meet in the library for music or art. Yes, we can get by but I don’t think the public is going to be happy with the class size or the way we have to structure the classrooms.”